Days of Noah

And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants. (Deuteronomy 3:13 KJV)

The Bible is no book for the faint of heart. At times, God’s Word is not what we would consider to be “kid friendly.” Much of what is written in the Scriptures could easily be classified as outside the proverbial “box.” To say that the Bible often pushes the boundaries of the human imagination is an understatement.

At its core, the Bible is a supernatural book, revealed by the Immortal God. Why would we be surprised to discover that truth is much stranger than fiction? All the imaginations of man cannot possibly fathom the unsearchable mind of God, who’s thoughts are not our thoughts.

Personally my view of Scripture has expanded exponentially over the last year. I read the Bible in an entirely new light. I try to imagine what it was really like in the ancient past, and I especially have become awakened to the reality of the prophesies concerning the last days.

Seriously, there is no movie, no epic tale, no end time scenario, no imaginary dream that could even begin to compare to what we will see in this world before the Return of our LORD. And what’s most fascinating is that I’m not basing that conclusion on a hunch. I’m basing it strictly on what I find revealed in the Bible.

Case in point. Let’s talk a little about The Biblical land of Bashan. In the days of Moses, Bashan was known as the land of giants (Deut. 3:13), or Rephaim. The Rephaim were the giant clans who settled in the land of Bashan after the flood. You can think of them as cousins to the Nephilim from Genesis 6 and Numbers 13. Apparently there were many different clans of giants who had settled in or around the land of Canaan.

The King of Bashan was a giant by the name of Og. King Og of Bashan was somewhere in the neighborhood of standing 12′ tall, according to Deut. 3:11. He was one of the last surviving warriors of the Raphaim. One of the very last accomplishments of Moses before he died was leading the Israelites to defeat King Og and his armies.

Even though Og was one of the last of the giants to live in Bashan, he certainly was not the first. Dating back to the late 1860s, historian and author Rev. F. L. Porter wrote extensively of his own travels to the land of Bashan. In his book, The Giant Cities of Bashan, Porter found overwhelming evidence of these giants. He was an eyewitness to “graves of enormous dimensions,” some as long as 30 feet (pg 12).

To take it even further, the book of 1 Enoch identifies Mt. Hermon as the original place where the Watchers descended in Noah’s day and ensued to produce their giant offspring. It just so happens that Mt. Hermon was the northern most boundary of the land of … Bashan.

Even more interesting, when Bashan reappears throughout the Scriptures, it often is connected to the Second Coming passages and the Day of the LORD.

Consider Psalm 68:21-23

21But God will strike the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of him who walks in his guilty ways.
22The Lord said,
“I will bring them back from Bashan,
I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
23that you may strike your feet in their blood, that the tongues of your dogs may have their portion from the foe.

Could it be that one aspects of the last days and the coming of Jesus will be the return of these giants on the earth? If antichrist is mustering his demonic hordes to wage war against the Lord, is it outside the realm of possibility that this evil army will include all kinds of demonic beasts and giant warriors? Not only is it possible. I say it is probable.

We already know the final battle on earth will involve all kinds of powers and supernatural wonders in accordance with the forces of darkness. We already know that grotesque creatures will come upon the earth from the abyss in the great tribulation (Revelation 9). Other demons will be released, and satan himself will be cast to the earth (Rev. 12). My mortal mind might be able to fathom some surreal scenarios, but the Scriptures push the boundaries beyond my imagination.

Honestly, I believe that the last days will be so surreal that our human minds won’t be able to process what we will see. Only those sealed with the Holy Spirit, who have the mind of Christ, will be able remain sane in those days.

Will giants walk again upon this earth before Jesus returns? I am convinced of it. I believe the reemergence of giants in the last days is one of the key components that Jesus was predicting when He compared His day to the days of Noah.

I leave you with one final passage from Ezekiel 39. Clearly this passage is depicting the Day of the Lord and His final judgment on the antichrist and the demonic hordes that follow him.

As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD: Speak to the birds of every sort and to all beasts of the field: ‘Assemble and come, gather from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great sacrificial feast on the mountains of Israel, and you shall eat flesh and drink blood. 18You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth—of rams, of lambs, and of he-goats, of bulls, all of them fat beasts of Bashan. 19And you shall eat fat till you are filled, and drink blood till you are drunk, at the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you. 20And you shall be filled at my table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all kinds of warriors,’ declares the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 39:17-20)

I find three context clues that again strongly suggests that giant warriors will be judged on the Day of the Lord.

1. The Lord calls on the carrion and birds of prey to gorge themselves on the flesh of these fallen warriors and their kings. This is a parallel passage to Revelation 19:11-21, which is an obvious Day of the Lord passage.

2. Ezekiel uses the word “mighty men” twice in this passage, which is the same Hebrew word (gibborim) used first to describe the Nephilim in Genesis 6 and also Nimrod in Genesis 10. The rule of first reference almost certainly indicates that these warriors are more than human. They are giants.

3. Finally, we find another reference to Bashan in this passage – the land of giants. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide.

All I know is that the end times picture that is beginning to come into focus is far more sensational and surreal than anything I could have ever imagined. And to believe that I will live to see all of this play out in real time is both exhilarating and sobering at the same time.

I can almost feel the surge in my heart and the stirring in my soul that the boy David must have felt himself when he stepped into battle with the mighty giant Goliath. For who should dare defy the armies of the living God?